Landing is one of the most demanding tasks in flying. During the landing approach, the pilot must evaluate if the aircraft may safely land or if the landing attempt should be aborted. In addition to monitoring various flight instruments and navigating the aircraft, Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) regulations require a pilot to visibly identify certain runway environment or runway surface or lighting references in a predefined visual segment in front of the aircraft. Generally, the visual segment is defined by the FAA by the ability to visually identify ground references at a certain distance and aircraft flight deck angle and altitude and under certain visibility conditions.
Portions of the visual segment typically include various types of runway (or airport) lighting systems, such as the lighting associated with approach lights, threshold lights, and touchdown zone lights. As such, at a predetermined approach point (e.g., a decision height), the pilot is required to look out of the window and identify required airport lighting references. Upon positive identification, the pilot may continue the approach and land the aircraft. The time allocated to this task is very limited given the airspeed of the aircraft and the typical or nominal reaction time of the pilot to see and recognize such references at the decision height. Estimating the visual segment and identifying the airport lighting references may be a challenge given the various types of airport lighting and flight circumstances, particularly at all angles of approach and in nighttime, low visibility, turbulent or crosswind situations that may make it difficult for the pilot to quickly locate and identify the references.
Computer generated aircraft displays have become highly sophisticated and capable of displaying a substantial amount of flight management, navigation, and control information that gives flight crews more effective control of the aircraft and a reduction in workload during a normal flight situation and/or a low visibility, instrument situation. In this regard, electronic displays, such as head up displays (HUDs) and head down displays (HDDs), are used in aircraft as primary flight displays. For example, the primary flight display can combine critical flight instrumentation (e.g., altitude, attitude, heading, airspeed, vertical speed instruments) and primary engine instrument indicators into a single, readily interpretable display. Although conventional primary flight displays may provide some assistance to the pilot during normal and instrument situations, such displays are typically not as helpful during landing situations, particularly in tasks such as anticipating and identifying airport lighting information.
Accordingly, it is desirable to provide systems and methods that improve situational awareness and assist the pilot in identifying and interpreting airport lighting information during a landing situation. Furthermore, other desirable features and characteristics of the present invention will become apparent from the subsequent detailed description of the invention and the appended claims, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings and this background of the invention.